Because I am a painfully slow reader, I seldom read more than one book by the same author. Just gotta keep moving and take in as many authors and genres as possible. Once in a while, I stop after a single book for a different reason though - fear that the second book, or the third may not affect me as strongly as the first. That was the case with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera .
After reading of his death last week, it seemed proper to re-read this powerful piece even though second readings were quickly eliminated from my life after earning my Masters. But there is something about this book. You know I love magical realism and Marquez is the master of fusing reality with surrealism. His symbolism and metaphor also appeal to me. They sweeten the book's richness, and when I can decode their meaning, I feel smart.
This book is a love story - a genre low on my preferred reading list, and yet it held me to the very last page.. It is not an easy book, It is not a happy book. Florentino and Fermina fall in love in their youth. They believe, as did I, that they would be together forever even though Fermina's father warred against the relationship. Eventually. Fermina opts for a perceived fuller life and marries a doctor. Florentino deals with his grief though a series of meaningless, sexual relationships.
I know it all sounds very soap opera-ish, but the intensity of Maquez's prose takes you deep into Florentino's pain. Graphic scenes? You betcha - but they aren't lurid, they are sad. For Florentino, love sickness evolves with incurable, life threatening skill. To him, it is a disease as real, harsh, ugly and relentless as cholera.
Well, I better stop before I find myself adding Marquez's master work, One Hundred Years of Solitude. to my ever growing TBR pile.
What am I reading now? My book discussion title for May is A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson. I wasn't too sure, but by page 35, I was hooked.
Thanks for stopping by.
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